ISSN 0976-0814 Labyrinth An International Refereed Journal of Postmodern Studies

Vol.7 - No.3 July 2016

Abstracted & Indexed at Literary Reference Centre Plus, EBSCO HOST, USA

. Editor Lata Mishra Dept. of English Studies & Research, Govt. KRG (PG) Autonomous College, Gwalior, MP

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Contents

ARTICLES: 1. The “Interpreter of Cultures”: Verrier Elwin and North East India 5 BANIBRATA MAHANTA 2. Darkness Looms Large Amidst Light: Critiquing the Success Myth in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger 15 SOVAN TRIPATHY 3. Gandhian Aura and the National Movement: A New Historicist Analysis of Raja Rao’s Kanthapura 25 BINUJA JOSEPH 4. Locating Satire in Literature 39 RAMDINMAWII 5. Search for Authenticity: Simulated Reality in Zadie Smith’s The Autograph Man 51 NEHA DUBEY 6. Nostalgic Ruminations: Tenzin T Sundue’s Verses in Exile 62 R. SENKAMALAM, ANJU S. NAIR 7. Nirad C. Chaudhuri’s The Autobiography of An Unknown Indian: A Factual Revelation of Man, Milieu & Settings 69 ASHOK K. SAINI 8. A Literary Perspective on Gender Theory 76 PATHAN WAJED R. KHAN 9. Identity of Childhood in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus 86 C. JEAN CLAUDE & S. RAJARAJAN Page 4  Labyrinth : ISSN 0976-0814 (Vol.7 - No.3, July 2016)

10. Shobaa De—A Short Biography 92 SANTOSH KUMAR SINGH 11. Lost in Diaspora: Kiran Desai’s Biju 97 LEANORA PEREIRA 12. Inveterate Optimist 104 N.D. DANI

SHORT STORY: 1. The Damsel at Echo Point: A Short Story by Lalzuithanga 111 Folklore translated from the Mizo by MARGARET L. PACHUAU

POEMS: 1. When Wind Blows 120 RADHAMANI SARMA 2. Loosening Knots 120 RADHAMANI SARMA Our Contributors 121

ARTICLES

1 The “Interpreter of Cultures”1: Verrier Elwin and North East India

BANIBRATA MAHANTA

ABSTRACT

The context of this paper is the construction of the word tribe by the colonial administration, the connotations of primitivity attached to it, the apathy of the Indian nationalist leadership to the people thus categorized, and Elwin’s three decades of work with the tribes of India. Elwin’s engagement with the Indian tribes culminated in his role as policy planner and decision maker for the tribal population during the last decade of his life, and it is Elwin’s work during this phase of his life—his ideas and vision about the tribes of North East India and their association with the nation (within the larger context of his views about the tribes of India in general) that I attempt to dwell on in this paper.

I Verrier Holman Elwin was born at Dover in Kent, England, on 29 August 1902, and was the first of three children of Edmund Henry Elwin and Minnie Elwin. Edmund, a staunch and zealous Evangelist, was complemented by his wife Minnie and her “messianic belief in the Second Coming” (Guha, Savaging the Civilized 5). Bishop Elwin died in 1909, and Minnie Elwin filled the gap “with renewed devotion to her religion and her family” (Guha, Savaging the Civilized 7). Raised in this household, it is not surprising that Elwin’s “studies, his friends, his inner life and his social life” from his school days to his time at Oxford “revolved around religion” (Elwin, Autobiography 25). Just after college,

2 Darkness Looms Large Amidst Light: Critiquing the Success Myth in Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger

SOVAN TRIPATHY

ABSTRACT

Written in an epistolary form, Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger is an “autobiography of a half-baked Indian”, namely Balram Halwai who was born in Laxmangarh, a village of Gaya district. The novel is written in a seven parts letter by Balram himself to a Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao who is supposed to visit India. The novel unfolds Balram’s past life in his native village as well as his successive journeys to various towns of India like Dhanbad, Delhi and finally to Bangalore experiencing India where corruption runs rampant, democracy is thwarted, election turns to be fraud and servitude and exploitation of semi-literate and illiterate people are confirmed. Embittered by various tortures, corruption and illegal actions of certain class of people, Balram Halwai, the white tiger of the novel murders his master Mr. Ashok in Delhi, grabs seven hundred thousand money and comes to Bangalore, the hi-tech city of all prominence and becomes a successful entrepreneur. To him, India is not a homogeneous country. Rather, there are two Indias—one the rural sides with all bad and sad stories, the area of ‘Darkness’ and another is urban areas, a place of ‘Light’ with sky scrapers, shopping malls, palatial hotels. The present paper focuses that not only there is darkness in rural areas but also in the places of light and behind the ambitious, glimmering success myth of Balram there is much wickedness, immorality, heinous actions and faulty conceptions which can rip apart the overall social construction. Though neither the protagonist of the novel, nor the novelist himself seems to be aware of that and both are proud of such success myth, there

3 Gandhian Aura and the National Movement: A New Historicist Analysis of Raja Rao’s Kanthapura

BINUJA JOSEPH

ABSTRACT

Raja Rao’s fictional text Kanthapura is analysed in relation to Walter Benjamin’s concept of aura. Benjamin develops the concept of aura as a ‘halo’ which envelops a person or object of perception and emphasizes the uniqueness of that person or object of perception. He conceives the aura as something inherent but he also links it to human perception. He also relates it to a unique moment in time and space. The Mahatma’s aura, generated by his unique presence in time and space, was the most influential factor in the national movement and the novel testifies to this. The fictional village of Kanthapura undergoes unprecedented transformation under the influence of Gandhian aura. Gandhism, as propagated by Moorthy, led to the incorporation of people belonging to all sections in the society, in the national movement. The new historicist method is used to study the nature and impact of Gandhian aura in the village. The fictional text is read in parallel with the texts which pertain to the social and historical events of the day and also those dealing with the real events in Gandhi’s life, detailed in his biographies. In the unique context of freedom movement, which has led to the enhancement of Gandhian aura as a unifying factor in the multifaceted Indian society, Gandhism becomes hegemonic. There is an attempt in the novel to subvert the hegemony of Gandhism in the form of Nehruvian socialism, but it is short lived and ultimately the dominant status of Gandhism is reasserted.

Keywords: aura, nationalist movement, Gandhi as Mahatma, swaraj, Gandhian intervention, hegemony.

4 Locating Satire in Literature

RAMDINMAWII

ABSTRACT

Satire, down the ages, has been considered as a powerful form of art by a great many writers, critics, academicians, scholars and literature aficionados. It remains a constant topic of discussion and a subject of selective erudition for researchers within the realm of literature. It is not an easy task to club together the techniques and characteristics of satire under a unified field of theory or genre as it covers a wide range of subject and what makes it more interesting is the fact that it cannot be restricted or limited to any specific morality or political boundary. Satire can also be considered as a sensitive subject and requires to be handled with careful practice from all angles as its result may end up undesirable. “A satire is a work of literature or graphic art that uses humor for the purpose of censure or ridicule. Describing, dissecting, and discrediting behavior of which the satirist disapproves, satire can be expressed in many tones, from harsh and bitter to mild and gentle.” (Keyishian: 528)) Through recorded history and writings from the past to the present, it can be clearly identified that satire is an useful form of literature and its subject matter ranges from individual to individual as well as one place to another, basing its theme from society to a great length of politics. Today, satire has deeply rooted itself not only within the realm of literature, but also occupies an important place in television shows, comics and cartoons across the globe.

Keywords: Satire, Literature, Aristophanes, Horace, Dryden. Leonard Feignberg has observed and commented that “Satire is such an amorphous genre that no two scholars define it in the

5 Search for Authenticity: Simulated Reality in Zadie Smith’s The Autograph Man

NEHA DUBEY

ABSTRACT

The novel The Autograph Man is not much acclaimed widely as the first novel White Teeth by Zadie Smith but one cannot eschew the potentiality of Smith dealing not only with hybridity and multiculturalism but the contemporary phenomena of postmodern fiction that intensely conglomerates the plurality, self-reflexivity, discourses about popular fiction, cinematic and hyper- real aura affecting the contemporary social reality. In the age of globalization every work of art and system of cultural reproduction is highly dominated by the commercial and reified consumer capitalism. The reproduction has been made plausible through the mass media and technology that actualize itself in televisual identity, movies serving bourgeoisie and internet a new polyvalent form of reproducing social and cultural artifacts. Smith successfully articulates to the new forces of capitalist culture; an escape from his reality; an encounter of real and hyperreal; comprehension of the protagonist outside his real world. Withnew sincerity Smith holds an insight of dealing with ‘critical’ and ‘cultural’ aspect of postmodernism and represents Baudrillard’s hyperreal theory in the context of her novel’s protagonist spurious and apocryphal life, hollow referent between faith and fame. The paper analyzes here the ‘authentic’ and ‘fake’ self, the complexity in personal and professional life and an absence simply because s/he is not able to fit in either of the two and belies according to the lexicon of international gestures and we see the individuality melting in ‘symbols’

Key Words: Self-reflexivity, cinematic and hyperreality, consumer capitalism, absence, and lexicon of International Gestures.

6 Nostalgic Ruminations: Tenzin T Sundue’s Verses in Exile

R. SENKAMALAM, ANJU S. NAIR

ABSTRACT

The moral authority of His Holiness, The Dalai Lama has prevented the Tibetans in Tibet and in exile from taking up arms. Thus the Tibetans have the ability to keep their struggle non- violent as they intend to hold on to the roots of Tibet’s cultural and ethnic identity

Keywords: Homeland, freedom, exile, refugee, struggle, non- violence. Tibetan poems were religious only in the past. Tibetans suffered/suffer immeasurably under the illegal occupation of Tibet by China. They are being persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and murdered. Their voices stifled and their places of worship demolished they struggle for freedom from more than five grueling decades of brutal and tyrannical Chinese rule persist. The Tibetan poets and writers have sought and reached a worldwide audience in their fight for liberation through the use of the universal language. For most of the Tibetan poets, Tibet, their homeland has never been their home. The ordinary Tibetan nomads, their love for the land and for the well-being of the land, is the most touching Tibet story. The Tibetan poets find it very difficult to put this relationship into words. It is now a tremendous responsibility for the young Tibetans to understand Tibetan history. They try to know where they come from, to strengthen

7 Nirad C. Chaudhuri’s The Autobiography of An Unknown Indian: A Factual Revelation of Man, Milieu & Settings

ASHOK K. SAINI

ABSTRACT

This research paper attempts to delineate and outline the Nirad C. Chaudhuri’s The Autobiography of An Unknown Indian as a factual revelation of man, milieu & settings. Chaudhuri is a man of ingenious brilliance and has the benefit of a prominent and impregnable consign in Indo-Anglian literature besides. Chaudhuri’s autobiography is the most distinguished and the most vituperated manuscript. Chaudhuri determinedly depended on an egotistical peak of view which amounts to a persistent self- justification. This is one of the most advantageous instances of the most substantial, divergent discursive exertion to be engendered by esteem and distaste of Indian-British interface and edge. His autobiography further articulates in a diplomatic approach the distinctive variance endured by a middle-class Indian thinker near the commencement time of the twentieth century, for the reason that of his European susceptibility attained in the itinerary of English edification and Western influence. His intention is to tell the anecdote of the struggle of a civilization with hostile scenery and settings in which the destiny of British ruling in India became involuntarily occupied. Definitely, his autobiography is more of a nationwide than personal and private recitation as it makes public supremacy to the education larger than the originator in addition to this, it is more of an executive anthology than life story. This is less an exposure of his livelihood and personality and narrowly taps the theme and issues of self- introspection. Chaudhuri’s inferences as an autobiographer come

8 A Literary Perspective on Gender Theory

PATHAN WAJED R. KHAN

ABSTRACT

The present paper discusses a literary perspective on gender theory or studies that argue the issues of gender and sexuality. The issues of gender assumed as a crucial position in the critical and creative writing. In the contemporary academic studies, gender theory is one of the significant areas of study in various branches and fields, such as literary theory, drama, cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, psychology, and literature. The paper argues a perspective on the major literary issues in the gander’s socio-cultural context. Indeed, gender theory is one of the most debated and debatable theory that shock the perspective and the writing of scholars in the 21st century literary world. The study tried to bring in the literature and gender theory into discussions of sexual diversity and gender identity in the light of critical or literary perspective. The theory also exposes the several issues of the patriarchal perspectives in the gender equality context. As a matter of critical discourses, gender criticism questions the differing or contradictory conceptions of gender and their role in the writing, reception, subject matter, and evaluation of literary works. Therefore, the paper is an endeavor to focus the literary and critical key issues of gender theory.

Keywords: Gender, literary perspective, identity, culture and theory. With the emergence of postmodernism and critical theory, the problems and issues of gender and sexuality are a central position in the critical and creative writing. Gender theory, cultural studies, racial and ethnic discourses have given these

9 Identity of Childhood in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus

C. JEAN CLAUDE & S. RAJARAJAN

ABSTRACT

The current blossoming of fiction in contemporary Nigeria is, as many critics have pointed out, creating a ‘third generation’ of Nigerian literature. This study argues that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, a text in this new dispensation, begins a discourse on childhood as ‘a set of ideas’ that engages, through alternative memory and the father figure, with what can be described as postmodern identities. Adichie’s contemporaries, children spawned by literary and literal fathers, struggle with these fathers as critical memories ijn an attempt to delimit and transcend the symbolic boundaries carved out by identification with the father figure. In Purple Hibiscus, childhood equivocates its relation with this figure and problematizes it in a manner that gives this childhood power, agency to consume hybridity, third spaces. The novel is a story of the corruption and religious fundamentalism that grips Adichie’s native country. Told from the point of view of a child, overt political messages are held at an arm’s length, but they inform Kambili’s coming of age. In spite of the corrupt military rule that comprises Nigerian politics through various characters, the importance of the woman character is brought throughout the novel.

Keywords: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; alternate memory; politics; father figure; identity; memories; Purple Hibiscus. The increased output in Nigerian literature has begun to raise critical concerns. Two special editions, edited by Pius Adesanmi and Chris Dunton for English in Africa (2005) and Research in

10 Shobaa De—A Short Biography

SANTOSH KUMAR SINGH

Shobhaa De is an eminent Indian writer (novelist) who is often known as India’s Jackie Collins. She was born as Shobhaa Rajadhyaksha to the Saraswat Brahmin family of Maharashtra on January 7, 1974. She completed her graduation from St. Xavier’s college, Mumbai and obtained a degree in Psychology. She started her career as a model and made a name for herself. Thereafter, in 1970 she switched to journalism, a field where she remains even today. She brought out three magazines namely Stardust, Society and Celebrity. She has also worked as consulting editor to Sunday and Megacity. Because of her passion for journalism and specially as a columnist (often writing in The Times of India) she always renders her views on every development in India or abroad.

Shobhaa De has always been a personality to be reckoned. For nearly three decades, she has been revolutionizing the written world. By Her versatile personality and curt writing, she has exposed so many vanities, targeted the indisciplined teenagers and their ravishing life style particularly the rapid degeneration of human values in Mumbai society. (Symbolically the entire globe) It has been seen that she has a missionary zeal when she brings the rampant immorality and indecency of today’s so called civilized society to the forth. In her writings she is highly peeved at the degeneration of these values and she aims to define what society is and how it comes into being.

11 Lost in Diaspora: Kiran Desai’s Biju

LEANORA PEREIRA

The Oxford Dictionary defines diaspora firstly; as the movement of the Jewish people away from their own country to live and work in other countries, secondly, as the movement of people, from any nation or group, away from their own country. (Oxford, 8th edition)

“As per William Safran, first, Diaspora as a term refers to people who have “been dispersed from a specific original ‘center’ to two or more ‘peripheral’ or foreign regions”; (Braziel 24) History has always witnessed movements of people. Searching for food and water has been the priority, for nomadic movements. Post war and post-colonial eras have witnessed the greatest mass migrations. These migrants are searching for a better tomorrow, a better way of life. No one wants to be left out from this foray for greener pastures; Upper, merchant class, middle class and even the lower labour class. Biju from Kiran Desai’s Inheritance of Loss is a character from the lowest echelons of society. He is unskilled but longs to go abroad in search of success and money. In the novel he is son of the cook, working for Judge Jemubhai Patel. Biju’s journey is a journey from a small hell, to a larger hell and then back to India during the insurgency, which is the greatest hell. It was Selma Carvalho who described Diaspora as a ‘Wilderness’, in her book on Diaspora entitled Into the Diaspora Wilderness. (Goa 1556, Broadway Publishing 2010). Biju’s journey

12 Inveterate Optimist

N.D. DANI

Optimism in human beings is a great quality. Nature has optimism programmed in human genes. Nature knows that humans will not survive in the harsh environs in which they are born if they do not have optimism ingrained in them. That’s a great example of Nature’s mercy. In fact, humans get depressed if their natural tendency to hope and hope for the better is artificially or naturally thwarted for a long time. Look at a baby. It wants its mother to pick it up and when it sees its mother it throws its hands and legs optimistically towards her. If the mother doesn’t pick her or him up on several occasions, the baby will get depressed and there are psychological studies to show that such babies turn into anti-social beings on growing up. Among English poets Robert Browning had the best reputation (or is it the worst?) for being an optimist in his poetry and, one would like to believe, in his life, too. However, his contemporary, Lord Tennyson, has a more cautious, realistic optimism. Sample his ‘Ulysses’. The great Greek warrior is egging on his tired sailors to sail on but he doesn’t give them unalloyed hope. Ulysses’ hope is rooted in reality. He is not unaware of the dangers that lurk behind those who decide to lead a life of adventure or misadventure. Sample the lines: “It may be that the gulfs will wash us down: / It may be that we shall touch the Happy Isles,/ And see the great Achilles, whom we knew” Robert Browning appears to be a no-holds-barred optimist throwing all caution, nay negativity, to the winds. How else could the 19th century British poet, defying all scientific evidence

SHORT STORY

The Damsel at Echo Point: A Short Story by Lalzuithanga Folklore translated from the Mizo by

MARGARET L. PACHUAU

Keywords: Aizawl, damsel, Thuama, Rautinchhingi, beauty. I wonder if you will believe this: A considerable amount of time has passed since this incident. I was yet a young man and Aizawl was not as it is now for it was almost entirely covered with wild foliage. Yet the vais1 had made their presence felt keenly and a motor-able approach to Lunglei had already been constructed. Aizawl had already attained its present status, as a city in the helm of administrative affairs and it was thus regarded to be the hub of all activity. The Ngaizel stretch was very much like a jungle and it was filled with ngai2 trees. Even the road constructed by the government was frequented by animals rather than men, especially at night. One night my friend and I had gone from Kelsih village to Aizawl town to deliver a message. Hardly has we set off when my friend sprained his foot and could no longer proceed. He had to hobble back home painfully on foot. Feeling duty bound I went ahead, armed with a spear and knife. However, I reached Ngaizel uneventfully. It was a full moon night and the night was

1 Foreigners. 2 A species of screw pine.

POEMS

When Wind Blows RADHAMANI SARMA

In December chill’s Morn When nestled birds stay Cosy in the self-made shelter, Dark slowly recedes, while Dew drops Rivet and stay, on Rose. When the petals fritter, these hanging medals glitter, glide and drip down, Chicks dare not come out, Speedy gales spring fast. Crow in Dove’s nest, Chicks pick crumbles within Without any disparity Necessity and Care make them forget their genre. Unity stays forever.



Loosening Knots

RADHAMANI SARMA

I have heard some say ‘Like a meteoric rise.’ But they cling on the Rope of constant question and Query, dreaming in mid air. Loosening knots forsake them. “Hare Ram”, “Hare Krishna,” from their Helpless self, but of vain. Failing rope is twisting and twirl.





Our Contributors

1. Banibrata Mahanta, Associate Professor, Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh 2. Sovan Tripathy, Guest Lecturer, Panskura Banamali College. Midnapore, West Bengal. 3. Binuja Joseph, PhD Research Scholar, M.G. University, Kerala. 4. Ramdinmawii, Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of English, Mizoram University, Mizoram. 5. Neha Dubey, PhD Research Scholar, Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. 6. R. Senkamalam, Ph.D. Research Scholar, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Guru Nanak College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. 7. Anju S. Nair, Assistant Professor of English, Tagore Arts College. Puducherry. 8. Ashok K. Saini, Department of English Language & Literature, Prince Sattam Bin Abdul Aziz University (Wadi-Al-Dawasir Campus), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 9. Pathan Wajed R. Khan, Lecturer, and Coordinator, Department of English and Translation, University of Jeddah, Jeddah (KSA). 10. C. Jean Claude, Research Scholar, Department of English Bharathiyar University. Coimbatore Tamil Nadu. Page 122  Labyrinth : ISSN 0976-0814 (Vol.7 - No.3, July 2016)

11. S. Rajarajan, Assistant Professor Department of English, Bharathidasan Govt. College for Women, Puducherry. 12. Santosh Kumar Singh, Department of English B.A.B College, Lucknow. 13. Leanora Pereira, Research Scholar, Department of English, Goa University, Goa. 14. N.D. Dani, Associate Professor Department of English, Sri Jai Narain Postgraduate College (Lucknow University), Lucknow. E-mail: [email protected] 15. Margaret L. Pachuau, Professor, Department of English, Mizoram University, Aizwal, Mizoram. 16. Radhamani Sarma, Professor of English with thirty-one years of teaching experience in a post-graduate and research institution, published four books of poems and one book of short story, widely published and anthologized.